Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cranberry Crazed

                                                                     Cranberry Crazed

(Do forgive the pun in this post’s title. It is honestly taking every ounce of strength I possess to not merely type “CRANBERRY SAUCE” over and over, for each and every post.)

The Daily Meal, the food-centric web offering from Jim Spanfeller‘s Spanfeller Group, has entered into a collaboration with RecipeBridge.com, which has agreed to power the site’s recipe database and search engine, culling recipes from over 450 sources across the internet. Daily Meal visitors can narrow their search by keyword, cuisine, ingr
ingredient, meal or occasionoroccasion..

This is a great time of year to delve into all things cranberry.

You probably already know cranberries are little powerhouses of:

vitamins,
antioxidants,
phyto-nutrients
even fiber.

I hope you'll try this recipe. This quick and dirty cranberry sauce that only takes about 10 minutes to make and tastes 100 times better than canned sauce.

You can leave out the Grand Marnier, but if you do, you'll want more orange flavor in your sauce. You can get that by using a bit more of the orange juice concentrate.

It's always a sticky matter to finely dice crystallized ginger cubes. If you have a very sturdy metal garlic press (not plastic, as it tends to hold odors), try pressing the crystallized ginger cubes through your press. Otherwise, use a very sharp knife and pour hot water over the blade before you start chopping.

If you don't have any crystallized ginger, you can substitute fresh ginger. Since ginger varies wildly in taste and heat, start with a ½ teaspoon and add more to suit your taste. Peel the ginger and press a small piece through your garlic press.

Cranberry Sauce

1 12-oz. package fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup canned orange juice concentrate, thawed and stirred

2/3 cup water

4 cubes crystallized ginger

¼ cup Grand Marnier

In a large saucepan, dissolve the sugar into the concentrate and water. Cook on medium until sugar is dissolved. Add the cranberries and cook on medium about 10 minutes, until you see and hear the berries pop.

Not all the berries will pop, and that's fine. If you want them all smushed but some are being stubborn and staying whole, you can press them against the side of the pan with your spoon.

Popping the berries is my favorite part! Kids enjoy that as well.

Add the Grand Marnier, simmer for a few minutes more. Taste the sauce, add more sugar and ginger if necessary. Cook until it gets that nice thick, shiny cranberry sauce look.

Let the sauce cool and place in a pretty clear glass bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, store in fridge.

If you're not planning on making your own sauce, you can easily tart up canned cranberry sauce. Make it a couple days prior to Thanksgiving and store it in the fridge for the flavors to meld.

Pour the cranberry sauce in a pan on medium low heat. When the sauce is warm, add one (or more) of these items:

2 - 3 tablespoons of orange marmalade

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 diced apple

1 diced pear

¼ cup Port wine

¼ pomegranate juice

¼ cup apple juice

¼ cup toasted pecans or walnuts

Friday, October 29, 2010

Saluyot (Jute Leaves)

           Discover the beauty secrets and health benefits of eating and using this obscure leafy vegetable.
Moreover, saluyot has an antioxidant activity of 77% or ยต-tocopherol equivalent (vitamin E) of 48.9. Benefits: Beta-carotene for good eyesight, iron for healthy red blood ..
          Jute leaves contain almost all of the nutrients needed by humans. But, the most important benefit of the leaves is their high antioxidant. According to Department of Agriculture, saluyot or jute has the following anti-aging benefits. I'm sure you're gonna like its benefits. It's better than any age defying ..

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

the benefit of malunggay

        
Malunggay Many Asians use the leaves of Malunggay (Sajina) like spinach and also the fruit it produces as a vegetable, like asparagus. Both the leaves and the fruits ...
       
        100 gms or 1 cup of cooked malunggay leaves contain 3.1 g protein, 0.6 g fiber, 96 mg calcium, 29 mg phosphorus, 1.7 mg iron, 2820 mg beta-carotene, .. Malunggay leaves are loaded with nutrients. Gram for gram, malunggay leaves also contain two times the protein in milk. ...

        Why does malunggay leaves can cure wounds?what does it contain?how does it stop the bleeding?is there any bad effect on the person who use ...
        The malunggay, which is also called Ben Nut, Benzolive Tree, Drumstick Tree, Horseradish Tree, Jacinto (Sp.), Moringa, West Indian Ben and with the scientific name Moringa oleifera has demonstrated many potential health supportive benefits. It is a tree that is native to India but has spread to other tropical regions and in the Philippines it grows rapidly and with ease in nearly every backyard. It has a significant amount of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and perhaps this is why it has been so effective for aiding in the healing of wounds. It also contains significant Beta-Sitosterol, iodine, Kaempferol, Oleic-Acid, Pterygospermin, Quercetin, Sulphur, and Tocopherol, all of which are known to contributed to assisting in the healing of wounds. As for stopping the bleeding, the ascorbic acid levels and Oxalic-acid are listed as antihemoragic in Dr Duke’s data base (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/duke/farmacy2.pl). To my knowledge there are no bad side effects associated with the use of maluggay other than the leaves slimy texture when cooked in soup. It is an extremely nutritious food source. If using a natural form of sugar along with the leaves, it helps to seal the wound and thus promote healing. If honey is used, it also has antibacterical properties and has been used for such throughout history. If you would like more information on the substances it contains and their health supporting properties, you can visit the above referenced site. I hope that this helps.